Kaleidoscope
by hamlet.reddiablo
Summary: Twin brothers cannot be separated: they could tear down an entire Confederation to be together again, especially a rotten one. Fierce lovers are still willing to fight. "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction" A.Einstein [Pairing: Spamano, GerIta (for the rime being)]
1. A Sceptre in the Sky

**Prologue: One Step to the End**

_«Kaleidoscopes are magic!»_

_«How are they magic?»_

_«Because reality is just one, but looking through the kaleidoscope you can see a hundred of different worlds!»_

_His brother looked at him raising his eyebrow._

_«Magic, you say? It's nothing but an illusion.»_

_«Why?»_

_«Because…»_

_._

* * *

.

The walls were white, the squares were white, and the carpets were white.

Even the young boy's skin was so white it was hard to tell where the border of the starched collar ended and his snowy neck began.

Ludwig watched the youth wearing his pearly gloves, impassive. He brushed his left arm, where the holes of the injections were still itching: he must continually keep an eye on the Axis, without any sort of rest, so he took a medicine which annihilates his need to sleep. He hadn't taken a single nap since the day he became the Guardian.

He sighed, his lips pressed firmly together. As Guardian, he was responsible for watching over the boy every minute of every day, and he wasn't allowed to let himself get distracted. But the position of the Axes was far worse than his: he was doomed to a lonely life, locked up in the Quartz Palace. The utmost isolation was the only way to keep him immaculate and uninvolved in the dirty mess the world was, because only the Axis's purity granted the stability of the Confederation.

Despite the retirement, a Guardian was necessary, since there were herds of criminal starving for Axis's powers.

Ludwig fixed his light blue eyes on the tiny back of the boy in front of him, who had just pulled the milky hat on his head. Those fragile shoulders were supposed to bear the weight of the destiny of the entire Confederation, but they were as fine as the silk mantle on them.

Feliciano finished his clothing and spun on his heels to face the Guardian.

«Done!» he warbled, before he headed himself to the marble altar.

Ludwig placed himself behind the boy. The big sword hanging by his shoulders scratched the iridescent pavement. Another day of loneliness and prayers. As always.

Feliciano folded his gloved hands and, before the ritual hymn, whispered his own wish:

«I hope my brother will be fine, wherever he is.»

.

* * *

.

In another place, another whiteness was born.

It was the ghastly pale of the chief of the guards' checks, staring incredulously at his subordinate.

«You did _what_? You imprisoned Lovino Belial?» he stuttered.

«He is a dangerous criminal, sir. A pirate of the worst kind…»

«Are you completely stupid or something?» the chief blurted out, his face suddenly turning a purplish hue. «We cannot take a delinquent of his caliber in this old prison!»

«He could be as strong as he wished, but until he's shackled…» a sentinel noticed as the chief abruptly hushed his voice:

«He is Devil's Left Hand! Ring any bells?»

He came close to almost scratching the dull expression from his men's faces as he continued, spitting out hysterics, «Let's call for reinforcements, or let him go! I don't want my prison torn down for such a…»

«I'm afraid you're way too late for regrets.»

The sudden interruption frightened the chief and made him jump so high he nearly reached the roof. Out of the blue, the owner of the voice appeared from behind - a little boy, a ghostly shell of a human being, with copped hair and pinched skin. Shackles couldn't stop the youth, as was apparent as he brushed his reddened wrists with an annoyed frown.

«May the Axis protect us!» slipped out a guard.

Every single hope faded away under the scowl of the boy and his angry words, «Don't you dare mention the Axis. He should not even exist.»

A deafening roar shook the prison, its walls crumbling violently, brick and cement fragments darting all around the dusty air. The screams of the guards weakened as they collapsed, hit by wreckage or suffocated by the debris.

When that clutter ended, Lovino stood up in the middle of the circle shaped by the fainted sentinels, his left hand pressing a gas mask on his face. The wrist of the chief twitched, shortly before his vision turned black upon that unmoved figure: such a skinny boy prevailed among a crowd of armed men, uninjured and impassive like as a wicked being was protecting him through his sinful powers was something far larger and terrifying. That's why he was called the Devil's Left Hand.

The chief fainted, so he couldn't see the man who came to rescue Lovino: he didn't catch the sight of the Devil's Right Hand, getting out of the Airship with feline grace.

Lovino gazed disapprovingly at the Airship as he watched it land on the prison, disintegrating its walls, and at the captain.

«You're late. And you made a mess, as always.»

«You've just broken your chains, so my timing is perfect,» the man contradicted him with an endearing smile drown on his lips.

«I though you get your heavy ass up to help me with these,» objected Lovino, showing the remaining pieces of the shackles.

The smile of the man migrated into his eyes ad he bent down to murmur:

«You're my lover, Lovino, but you're not a damsel in distress. I think you can manage such a small issue, can't you?»

The boy head butted his chin, and jumped on the Airship while the man was massaging the hurting bone.

«Let's go,» he decided despondently.

Antonio followed him, fluttering and careless of his partner's bad temper. The seamen greeted the Devil's Hands enthusiastically and moved quickly in order to obey their captain's commands.

The Airship roared like a stormy sea as the light blue rocket motor allowed gas to escape. But his growl was covered buy the shout of war of another Airship, flying straight in their direction.

Antonio and Lovino sighed at the same time, noticed the waving flag of the ship.

«Is that Arthur again?» said the Hispanic. Lovino nodded, gnawing his own cheek like a bitter pill.

Antonio's Airship darted into space and, at a turbulent speed, raced with the Britannic forces once again.

Despite of the supersonic speed, Lovino was able to steal a glance to the Quartz Palace, clear and bright in the dark space. He ground his teeth like a trapped animal and snarled:

«I'll get my brother out of you, you bastard.»

.

* * *

.

A silky rustle accompanied the movement of the oriental youth on the bed.

He picked up his red nightgown, using it to cover his nudity, and sat on the bed. His onyx gaze was instantly attracted by the sword laying near his legs.

He wrapped his fingers around the hilt and almost drowned in the celestial whistle of the blade abandoning its sheath.

Ivan will keep his promise soon.

Together, they're going to kill Kiku.

.

* * *

.

The Flemish smiled over the wine glass, watching the afflicted glare in the bloody eyes of his fellow.

«Where do you think all of this will bring us?» asked histrionic.

The man shook his silver head, and his answer blew out in an irritated snort:

«I don't know. I don't have a single clue, damn it! The Universe itself could disappear thanks to this trivial quarrel.»

Francis dipped his lips into the delicious taste of grapes: The Flemish could always appreciate good wines, the pleasures of love and well narrated poetry. Even if death was no farther than a step.

«Do you remember how all of this started, Gilbert?»

«What's the point in recalling it now?»

«Maybe it couldn't change the flow of the story, but it's a good thing. Turn back when you are so close to the end, I mean.»

«Why?»

«Because sometimes the path is so long you forgot the reason which made you start your journey.»

Gilbert emitted a sound mixing a snarl and a retch, and blurted out:

«Stop talking in rhyme. If you have something to say, just say it!»

Francis smiled, drank a sip of wine and whispered:

«It's not a big deal. I've just felt a little nostalgic for the fellow who left us along the way.»

«Regrets» criticized Gilbert. «That's why you shouldn't turn back.»

«You have a resolute tone, but your shoulders are shaking.»

«Shut that noisy hole under your nose up!»

Francis hushed himself and emptied the glass.

And let his memories free to run wild.

**Chapter One: A Scepter in the Sky**

Nobody knows what exactly went through Sir Vargas's mind when the midwife told him his wife had given birth to twin brothers. Her face resembled the stone face of the sculpture of Villa Topazio. But everyone remembered his first words for his newborn babies:

«Only one of them will become the Axis. The other one is useless.»

Since the very beginning of the Universe, Vargas' family had sent his first born son to the Quartz Palace in order to serve the Confederation as Axis; the duty of the second born was to assure many descendants.

In those days the Axis was the uncle of Sir Vargas, but he was pretty far gone and all of the family was desperate for an heir worthy of the honor. And then, the newborn babies arrived.

But twin brothers were something evil in the eyes of the Vatican, the family in charge of religious affairs of the Confederation; a single soul separated into two different bodies was something wicked and unnatural, and centrally it would bring great disgraces.

He would wait until the babies showed their powers, he would choose the best of them and throw away the worst, in order to give the chosen one back the rest of his soul.

In that very moment, the twin brothers started crying. And the midwife didn't understand why, all of a sudden, the two newborn babies howled and looked for their brother as they feared to be roughly separated.

Sir Vargas somberly frowned at them.

«Witchcraft,» he hissed, leaving the chamber.

.

* * *

.

Ten years later, the two brothers intertwined their fingers, floating in the ocean of white blanket that was their bed.

«Look!» said Feliciano, pointing to the vitreous ceiling. In the black dome of the night, the Quartz Palace was emitting the picture of tranquil clarity, the magic of the Vatican family keeping the crystal shaped building in the sky. It floated gracefully in the heart of everything, brightening the World of the Confederation with its angelic aura.

Lovino bent his head, perplexed.

«Looks like a scepter in the sky.» he commented.

«I want to see it so bad!» chirped Feliciano.

«I'll pass,» muttered Lovino.

«Why?»

Lovino twisted his mouth, vexed.

«It seems so… alone. Etched on nothing. It's a crying crystal.»

Feliciano's hand gripped his hand harder.

«You'll never leave me alone, right?» he almost wept, snuggling up in his brother's arms.

Lovino ruffled his hair and exclaimed:

«We're brothers, obviously we'll never be alone.»

«What if someone takes us apart?»

«Even so, I'll be in your blood, in your dreams and in your memories. We're twins.»

He wasn't so confident about his words, but he could feel Feliciano's smile growing on his shoulder. Even if the Quartz Palace was still cursing them with its light, Feliciano was smiling. That was enough for him.

.

* * *

.

Sir Vargas knew twin brothers were some sort of witchcraft forged in the very depths of Hell. And his sons had proved it every day.

If one of them was hurt, the other one felt his pain at the same moment. And sometimes, the children shared dreams during the night, and discussed them in the morning. Innocent episodes, which filled the children with joy and their father with suspicion.

Then, one day, Heaven sent an unquestionable sign about which one of the two brothers was the chosen one. Because of the warmth of the spring season, the two brothers went to the wood for a walk. A wild wolf suddenly came out from the trees, and Feliciano joined his hands and murmured a prayer. His little body blazed like a star, causing the beast to flee.

And Sir Vargas cleared his mind.

The order was precise and merciless: separate the twin brothers and bring Feliciano to the Quartz Palace. And discard Lovino on the most desolate planet in the whole Confederation.

«He's refusing food?»

Sir Vargas bitterly ran his hand through his grizzled hair.

They dragged Feliciano to the Quartz Palace, and he made an awful exhibition of himself: he fought against everyone, kicking and crying his brother's name. And since the day he crossed the gate of Quartz Palace he had refused food. He did nothing but breathe in a corner of his room, foodless and speechless.

The sentinel suggested to go in and cheer up his little boy, and Sir Vargas followed his advice reluctantly. The behavior of his son did not make any sense to him - being the Axis was the highest honor achievable inside the Confederation.

An exsiccated little voice hardly climbed the dried throat of the child:

«I was waiting for your coming.»

Sir Vargas contracted his mouth in a bitter grimace. They had to erase those shadows under the little boy's eyes, and they must do something for the chaps on his lips. They could not allow a grotesque caricature of a child to damage the beatific image of the Vatican Family.

«Where's my brother?»

His father folded his arms and bombarded him with a cruel answer:

«Your brother is not here anymore. He must return to you an half of your soul, and he did it.»

Feliciano tilted his head back and a uncanny glare lightened his eyes.

«No. You failed,» he curled up his scraggy legs and carried on: «When he hurt his elbow, I would feel the pain. When he fell, I couldn't walk either. When he dies, I will dead with him. That's how I know he's still alive.»

«We cannot tolerate an Axis with only an half of his soul. So we had to… cleanse you of him,» replied Sir Vargas, unaffected. «And his powers were immoral. Far from yours.»

Feliciano's head dangled in disagreement, and he reached out his hand to his meal, barely touched on the white bedside table.

«He'll come back to rescue me. He promised. He will not leave me in the scepter of the Sky. He will not leave me crying along with the crystal,» he sank the spoon in the soup, but, before swallowing, he declared: «I'm not eating because I want to become the Axis. I'm eating because I seek to see my brother again.»

Sir Vargas went out of the room, exasperated. Twin brothers surely were the most troublesome creature in the universe: they were so morbidly attached to the other one they could not see the right path, and how merciful the grown-ups were.

He would have sharply reprimanded him, if the same stubborn Feliciano had left the room, the day after. But the chamber regurgitated a totally different eleven-year-old.

A child, impeccably dressed in the complicated tunic of the Novice Axis bowed to Sir Vargas, smiling the whole time.

«I'm willing to start my training, father,» he murmured melodiously.

His father accepted his inexplicable change with a good grace, while the blood of the sentinels who saw that scene ran cold: during that foodless week, little Feliciano patiently and methodically sewed on himself a mask. He paid attention to every single detail and decorated it with graceful liar, and there he was, in a blaze of Heaven's light and kindness in despite of the challenge he issued to his father the day before.

They could not see the soul behind that mock smile, or the real thoughts that good mannered attitude was hiding.

They soundly swallowed, frightened of the nonchalance the little boy had showed disguising his very soul. Twins were really terrifying beings.

«Come, Feliciano,» his father invited him. «Your Guardian is waiting for you.»

The child accepted the offer of the father, and his smile scared the guards even further: it wasn't the innocent expression of a baby, it was the make-believe of a youth forcefully grown up in a week.

They tried to warn Sir Vargas, and their bodies were burnt up in a faraway planet as a result.

Once that dissenting voices had hushed, Sir Vargas could finally amuse himself hearing the praises and the adulations for his son, who was far more powerful than his predecessors of the last three hundred years.

.

* * *

.

The sand was hot and scratchy, but not as much as his parched throat, itching for water.

Lovino trudged in the dust of the desert planet he was left on, feverishly determined to survive in that hot desolation.

He was to be executed, but no one would ever raise his sword against the sainted fruit of Vatican Family: it would bring a thousand years of misfortune on the whole spawn of the miserable retch who dared such a blasphemous act. Therefore they had left him on Saharian planet, permitting the cruel sun to finish him in their stead.

Lovino wore out, breathing dust and burning air. He did not wish to die in such an insipid way, leaving his brother all alone in the middle of the Sky.

He blinked his dehydrated eyes: in the air distorted by the heat, he saw the trembling figures of a crowd of men, but it could be a nasty trick his roasted eyes were playing on him.

He moved his lips twice, unable to speak, before he collected enough saliva to spit out, «Anyone's there?»

The blurring shadows swung in his direction, and snatches of conversation reached his boiled ears:

«Why is a child here?»

«Where did he come from?»

A callous hand grabbed his collar, lifting him up like a cat, and crude fingers tangled themselves in the hair at his nape. His noble linage gleamed under the blazing sun beam: the sign of the Vatican Family, a silver cross shaped tattoo, caused disapproving barbs from the plebs around.

A swearword such as he had never heard before sandpapered his neck: that kind of words didn't exist at Villa Topazio, not even in thoughts.

«He is a Vatican!» yelled a sour voice above him.

«Let's waste him!» barked another one.

«Don't…» Lovino coughed and fumbled then he articulated: «Don't kill Feliciano. You can kill everyone else, but not Feliciano!»

An imposing figure shaded his face, and a warm and sardonic voice blew:

«A Vatican child is begging a mob of pirates to kill his own family? Come on, Garcia, let him go! You'll break those blackbird's bones of his with the shovels you have for hands.»

Lovino collapsed to the ground the very moment that the energumen set him free, and he was saved by the owner of the ironic voice.

«I meant kindly, Garcia.»

«You should be more specific, Capitain.»

The little boy's head weakly dangled, while two muscular arms lifted him up.

Lovino caught a glance of a pair of green irises with his desiccated pupils.

«We'll give you some water. And, after that, we'll gladly hear what else you have to say about your family.»

Then the world became too vorticose and colorful for his shriveled senses.

.

* * *

.

His teeth clenched with a growl as the jug was carried away from his hands.

«Don't drink so fast, or you'll feel sick.»

«I almost died out there. It can't be worse.»

Lovino spitefully stared at the man, returning the glass to him.

He must be the captain of the _Reina de la Oscuridad_, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, an Hispanic with emerald eyes and mocking smirk. A queue of dark curls came out from the three-cornered hat and laid down on the scarlet coat the captain was wearing. The little boy focused on the decoration of the crimson textile: on the left side of the line of buttons the symbol of the ship proudly showed up, while on the right side he lined up the medals he had taken from the defeated captains. And they were as many as stars in the night sky.

«You're way too young to beat that many people,» Lovino accused him, before he dipped his lips into precious water.

«I'm older than you, anyway,» Antonio replied. He ran his fingers through the medals, which proudly tinkled. «The Vatican born like you are suited for clerical jobs. On the other hand, the Carriedo are… skilled in different sorts of stuff. And thanks to that, I can also beat more experienced captains.»

The little boy gazed at him over the border of the cup. Antonio crossed his hands on his stomach, and studied him. «Are you really intending to betray your family?»

The glass was placed on the table with a dull thud.

«I want noting but to take my brother away from the Palace. Ii doesn't matter how.»

«And are you willing to do anything to pursue your aim?»

«Anything.»

One of the three tips of the hat touched captain's shoulder lightly as he saw the scrawny boy from a different angle.

«It's a merciless declaration,» Antonio emphasized every single word, in order to worsen their weight. «Beside your cleric powers…»

Captain's doubts flew away with his books, literally. Lovino closed his eyes for an instant, and suddenly everything in the cabin started whirling in the air, with the exception of the chairs they were sitting on.

Antonio watched the delirium all around him with a disarming calm, until the little boy opened his eyes and caused everything to stop.

«These are my real powers. But I can do something _worse,_» Lovino confessed. «And this is one of the reasons for my father hates me.»

«One?»

The child bit his lips until they bled, and Antonio respected his silence.

«We'll have ample opportunity to discuss it again during the journey.»

A suntanned hand waved under his nose, expressing a precise offer.

«Are you ready to join my crew?»

Lovino looked the fingers up and down, suspiciously. He wasn't sure he really desire a life of escapes, battles and incessant work. Nevertheless no one, except the outlaw leading the _Reina de la Oscuridad_, would ever be crazy enough to go with him against the Quartz Palace.

Lovino firmly shook his hand, and a deadly smile rose on Antonio's bronze face.

Together, they will be able to shatter the crystal in the Sky.

.

* * *

_._

_«Magic, you say? It's nothing but an illusion.»_

_«Why?»_

_«Because it's just the same picture repeated over and over. Not a single change. This is the saddest part.»_

* * *

.

.

.

Notes:

_Reina de la Oscuridad (Spanish): _the Queen of Darkness

_._

Beta Reading: Amethyst Asheryn


	2. 2 - Bloody Silver

**Chapter Two: Bloody Silver**

The marvelous blade of the stiletto reflected captain's green iris, then he drove his pupils on the boy's frowning face.

«Where did you get this dagger?» Antonio demanded.

«Somewhere,» he muttered.

Antonio rested his elbows on his knees and interlaced his fingers next to his lips, tightened in a grave expression.

«Did you steal it on my ship?»

«The henchmen of my father gave it to me,» Lovino twisted the corner of his mouth, disgusted by the bitterly taste of pliability. The emblem of Vatican was visible in the pompous hilt, and the knife had been impeccably sharpened by a first-class smith.

Captain's dark eyebrows rose doubtfully.

«Weren't they suppose to execute you?»

«Gehena would claim their soul if they allowed a Vatican to die totally defenseless,» Lovino muttered.

Antonio closed his eyes, exhaling an exasperated sigh. They had to kill him, but they couldn't leave him weaponless.

«Now I gladly accepted my excommunication,» hissed before he opened his eyes. «Why did you come in my cabin holding a dagger?»

Lovino spun, drawing aside his hair in order to expose his neck, letting the oil lamp on the massive desk embroider saffron flickering shades on the silver tattoo.

«I want to erase it,» his fingers angrily tightened his hair. «I don't want any kind of bond with the Vatican anymore. But I can't fix it by myself,» his voice turned bitter passing through a veil of resentment: he'd rather end the "Vatican chapter" of his life with his very hand, but scratching away that damned symbol was too difficult.

Antonio examined the result of the boy's ferocious efforts: his nails had dug deep in the skin encircling the tattoo, and the arms of the cross have slowly drowned in a lagoon of bloody trickles. Nevertheless the emblem was nearly intact.

The dagger was slid out of its scabbard with a silver screeching, and the sweeter sound of a handkerchief reached the boy's ears.

«Bite it» ordered Antonio, giving the square shaped tissue to the boy. «Trust me, you can't stay silent with a stiletto sinking in your flesh.»

Lovino obeyed immediately, as he stuffed his mouth with the handkerchief. He tried to be confident , but there was a subtle shiver in the deepest of his shoulder; the youth hardly managed to keep them still. He should be scared to death by the dagger moving closer to his neck. In spite of his abrasive temper, he had grown up in the soft world of nobles, where the worst diseases were the boring lectures of the preceptor and the endless church service

Antonio ran his finger along the blunt edge of the stiletto. How must it feel, for a pampered palace brat, to be thrown in the level of the lowest criminal?. His crystal soul wasn't born to bear the weight of the hard life on the Airship, or to stand the company of the ill-mannered seamen.

He brought the blade nearer the boy's neck, making Lovino's flesh creep. He could tell him to sit on the bed, but he wouldn't. He understood how much that change of lifestyle hurt the skinny boy, yet he couldn't forget all at once his loathing of aristocracy. Therefore, he was curious to test the extent of that boy's tenacity.

The dagger went under the boy's tender skin without obstacles, easily excavating the flesh. The handkerchief suffocated a painful howl, and the boy clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white to contain his suffering.

Antonio appreciated the youth's efforts, going on with digging. He was astonished as he found out that the symbol was not a mere tattoo: it was a very thin metal plate, harpooning the boy's flesh through small hooks. So the captain was forced to excavate deeper in order to remove that tiny nuisances grabbing Lovino's skin, and the youth twitched every single time the dagger dug deeper in his flesh.

Those were the hardest minutes in Lovino's life until the captain putted an end to them.

«Finished,» Antonio announced.

The boy almost fainted, but his stubbornness did not allow him to collapse right in front of the Hispanic. Antonio chased away a smile while Lovino made his back straight, undulating like a drunk man.

«It's some sort of identification stuff?» Antonio investigated, skimming with a finger the runes etched on the longest arm of the cross.

«It's a key for Vatican Mansions.»

«How careless, letting you escape with such a precious thing.»

«No one would ever dare to lay a single finger on a Vatican.»

The rage in Lovino's voice was as sharp as the skepticism in Antonio's eyes. The hypocrisies buried by the gold and white colors of Vatican's flag was so vast it could wrap an entire planet.

«Someone could scratch it out from your death body and use it to intrude into Vatican Mansions,» Antonio said, brutally honest like only a man accustomed to death could be.

«Probably they had disabled my code. They're false, but not brainless,» Lovino threw himself on the captain's armchair, the handkerchief pressed on the open wound.

Antonio looked intently at the cross, covered in fresh blood, then he glimpsed at the boy wore out on his comfy chair.

«Why did you want to uproot it so bad?» he demanded, showing the dripping metal plate.

Lovino drove the tissue under his eyes then examined it: an irregular bloody star drenched the handkerchief, and the youth pushed it on his neck once again, sighed irritated.

«I don't need a belonging mark. From this day on, I want to be completely free,» Lovino declared. «So I can teach my brother how to live chainless, when I will meet him again.»

The cross rotated in the air, caught in midair by the captain who put it on the desk, between he and he boy.

«Be careful, Lovino,» Antonio warned him. «A boundless life is not freedom, but loneliness.»

The handkerchief was slammed on the cross as Lovino stretched it out to expose the stain of blood.

«This is my bond,» he blurted, the echo of the conversation with his brother rumbling in his head.

Antonio grabbed the tissue using just the first and the second finger, and then he waved it under the boy's nose with ironic elegance.

«And you're satisfied with nothing but a single bound for the rest of your life?»

Lovino lifted his head up proudly. A single drop of blood rolled on his neck and a scarlet flower blossomed in his shirt where the crimson tear soaked it.

«Until the day I die, that's the way it is.»

The captain draped the dirty handkerchief on the cross, vaguely pleased by the youth's reactions. He did not rebel against the dagger, and he didn't let himself to be led astray.

The boy's hands, perfectly smooth, had clearly never taken the weight of hard work, as his thin shoulders bore nothing except the opulent Vatican clothing, still Antonio had to admit that the boy had remarkable nerves. The captains always thought that aristocrats had a handful of feathers instead of gut.

Antonio pointed at door, pleased, but inflexible.

«Go to the doctor and let him bandage your neck up. Tomorrow you must be ready to work.»

.

* * *

.

A week had passed since the day Sir Vargas introduced him to the person he would devote his life to.

Defending the Axis and the harmony of the Confederation was a huge honor, but sometimes he surprised himself wanting that guy to remove that fake smile on his face.

The precedent Axis had always worn a passive, seraphic expression, and his beatific smile could calm down even an enraged bull. At the opposite, his successor had the artificial grin of the grotesque masks worn during the pagan Carnival. That simulated smile was fixed both in his eyes and in his lips. It was impossible to tell what kind of thoughts crowded the boy's mind as he was praying on the altar or when he spoke to him with unnecessary formality. Even during lunch time his mind was elsewhere, in a mysterious place well concealed by that creepy smile.

Ludwig fixed the strap of the big sword on his shoulder. He was responsible for the Axis' safety, not of the tortuous path of his thoughts.

He had just made his mind up when something changed.

The incessant smile of the boy suddenly cracked. Incredulity and joy poured out from its chinks as a white gloved hand touched the Vatican symbol on the back of his neck. The lips and the eyelashes of the boy trembled, and so did his hands, frantically feeling the little silver plate.

«It hurts…» the Axis whimpered.

Ludwig was faster than the lightning reaching the Axis' side, but Feliciano pushed him gently.

«It's a good thing. It means that my brother is still alive,» the milky leather gloves muffled his joyful applause. «I'm perfectly fine, right now, so the emblem shouldn't hurt. That means that my brother is the one being hurt. But if he can feel pain, then he's alive!»

«I did not know you have a brother.»

An indignant shock flooded the youth's face – another expression the Guardian had never seen before on that marble visage.

«This is impossible,» Feliciano startled, rising up from the altar.

«Your father said you are his only son. He did not even mention a second born,» he added, noticing the boy's hurt look: «For some reasons I'm not aware of, he has never feel like talking about your brother.»

«He hates Lovino this much?»

Feliciano's words were no louder than the rustle of his robe as he moved a step toward the wall, but Ludwig caught them anyway.

«Lovino is the name of your brother?» Ludwig inquired.

«It is my _twin_ brother's name,» Feliciano specified.

Ludwig suddenly understood: the old superstition that twin brothers were a bad omen, for they break a single soul into two bodies. And the Axis, the dominator of the harmony of the Confederation, surely could not bear such a responsibility with a fragmented soul.

Feliciano lifted his hat up, ran his fingers through his copped hair and took a deep breath before he started:

«Do you have something you want to protect, Ludwig?»

The Guardian startled: he was sure the Axis did not know his name. In fact, he was convinced that guy had no interest in anything but his brilliant self.

«I'm protecting you,» he said.

A laugh poured out from Feliciano's lips, and, when he turned in his direction, a fresh arching was sweetly curving his mouth.

«Protecting me is your duty. But is there something else you would protect, without even needing to be ordered?» he went next to the altar and sat on the solid marble, drawing with a gloved finger on the neat floor. «I must preserve the whole Confederation, but the thing I really want to protect has the lion's spirit and the snake's tongue,» the boy laid his white-hatted head against the altar, and inquiringly gazed at the Guardian. «You don't have nothing like this?»

Ludwig searched for an answer, watching the ceiling like it can respond instead of him, and finally replied:

«I have a brother, too.»

Feliciano bowed his head, pleased.

«Do you miss him?»

«I haven't seen him for a long time.»

«And are you sad, because of that?»

«Are you sad because of the absence of your brother?» Ludwig threw the question back, so he could escape it.

Feliciano swayed his head twice then he said:

«I miss him so much I could die. But I'm hoping he find new smiles, out there. So a reflection of those smiles can reach me, and I'll be delighted by those,» he putted his shaped chin on his knees, bent against his chest. «And I egoistically wish that he won't forget me. Even if my memories will pollute his happiness,» Feliciano reclined his head and ended: «Do you feel the same?»

Some immobile instants passed before the serious reply of the Guardian shook the air:

«I wish my brother can sleep well.»

An inquisitive question rose on the boy's lips, but Feliciano didn't pronounce it. He recomposed himself and started his prayer again.

Ludwig stared silently at him. Every single Guardian should love his honorable job from the bottom of the heart, but he quite loathed Quartz Palace and the Axis. Nevertheless, after those few words, he found himself thinking that little boy could be not so bed, in the end. Ludwig saw a soul beneath the pantomime of the Axis, a spirit starving of love which fed itself with the illusion of the return of his brother. A poor, lonely soul with nothing but a fake smile to defend itself.

Separated from an inconvenient brother and forced to learn a secure way to evade the malevolence of the world. His path and the Axis' one were parallel, so he could understand his pain to the extent he could feel a painful thorn piercing his heart.

Close his eyelid once before he watched the boy again.

_There are no bad wolves in this world, Ludwig. Only very sad wolves. _

The lesson he learned years before appeared in his mind.

As always, his brother was right.

.

* * *

.

«With all due respect, Captain, the newbie is not suit for this ship.»

Antonio made a bright screeching as an answer, striking the shaping stone on the razor edge of his ax.

The motivations of doubt of the lieutenant were clear: the foundling was hurling insults at the rope tangling his angles, until he kicked them away from him, saving the barrel he was carrying. They watched him scampering out of the trap of the rope and swaying under the weight of the drum.

«He could be useful. He is a Vatican, after all,» Antonio shrugged.

«An _exiled _Vatican.»

«He could have some power,» he supposed, neutral. Antonio could barely stand the curiosity born a week ago, during his chat with Lovino: he was wondering what kind of skill could tag him as the evil twin, but he wasn't wishing to let the entire crew see his interest. Furthermore, he hadn't yet seen the extreme limit that emaciated boy could reach in order to see his brother again.

«But he has never fought, not a single time!» protested the lieutenant. «How can he…»

The ax cut the air and the objections of the subordinate as it dashed toward his face. The lieutenant slowly swallowed, seeing his own chin reflected on the shiny blade. His blood evacuated his checks, leaving them deadly pale; even his lifeblood was frightened by the _Aguja Paladar_, the dreaded ax of Antonio Fernandez Carriedo.

«I appreciate your advise,» Antonio articulated the words clearly, his eyes sharp and cold like the metal of the ax. «But don't forget who his the captain, _lieutenant_.»

«I'm really sorry, sir.»

His blood dared to return to his pinched face when the ax was hung back over the captain's shoulders.

«We will see his utility soon,» decided Antonio. He pulled his hat down and casted a glance to the horizon. «Looks like there are still some fool wanting to die under our swords.»

The lieutenant quickly pulled out his binoculars and scrutinized the unruffled sky all around: an Airship was running in their direction, the blue rocket motor flaming at full speed; they will be boarded in a few minutes. He put his binoculars back with a thrill of admiration and fear for the ability of their captain to foresee the coming of their enemies: it was one of the talents in Carriedo's treasure chest. Antonio mentioned them, but he has never explained his true capacity: a good warrior never told his secrets, not even to his allies.

«We will be attacked soon by a hostile Airship,» communicated authoritative. «If the battle scares you, your place is below deck. I don't want cowards or incompetents on the deck,» he stopped exactly in front of Lovino, and cast a glance to him. A stormy expression mixing stubbornness, fear and pride darkened the boy's face. The captain swiftly looked away: if the boy wanted to throw away his life like garbage, than be it. He had no time to waste with him.

«We can see ten men on the deck, Captain,» informed the lieutenant. «The ship is big enough to hide the same number in the below decks.»

«A piece of cake!» barked a buccaneer, with his voice roughened by tobacco.

«I can handle this alone.»

The announcement fell upon them like a freezing waterfall. That ghastly child should be frightened by the fight, yet he spoke in such a loud, arrogant tone.

The men laughed like they never had before, but Lovino didn't lower his eyes: he kept his spine straight during the hurricane of the buccaneer's rough words.

The captain was the only one still tranquil in the storm of hilarity.

«How are you going to manage this?» Antonio demanded.

Lovino rolled up the sleeves of his too long shirt, an ironic gift of the cabin boys, gritting his answer:

«I'm a Vatican. You'll see,» and added, more confident: «You have nothing to lose letting me go alone. If I'm right, you'll skip the combat. If I'm wrong, you'll be free of me.»

He was not one of them: he had always worked alone, while the others were always surrounded by their noisy friends; no one had ever shared food with him, yet they exchanged their dishes all the time; they reserved for him their questioning and disgusted glares, wondering why such a runt was allowed to walk on the deck of _Reina de la Oscuridad_ with impunity. And he was tired of their viscous spite.

No one stopped him, while he reached the railing: they were surely wishing he "kick the bucket", according to the explicit vocabulary of the old sea dogs. He could feel their hopes pushing his back, like they tried to toss him. On the contrary, the captain was looked intently at him, without any particular expression on his face. He was just waiting.

Lovino inhaled deeply, smelling the air in the artificial atmosphere that enclosed the Airship so the crew could breathe normally even in the space. Antonio really loved the real sea: the salty perfume of the ocean flew inside the atmosphere.

His copped locks drew a funny circle when Lovino tossed his head: whether the captain loves the sea or not wasn't his concern.

He looked the Airship, nose-diving towards them, and closed his eyes and joined his hands as if in prayer. He bit his knuckles, as the remembrance of his father's curse snapped at his stomach.

_His propensity brings nothing but disgrace. If we're lucky, he shall bring it with him to the Gehena. _

A bitter grin twisted his lips. His father wasn't completely wrong, after all: he was about to use his powers to kill the enemies of a crew of pirates.

Even the seasoned veterans moved back as they saw the beast evoked by the little boy. Only Antonio stayed still: he was used to magic thanks to Gilbert and Francis. But he could not pretend to be untouched by the extraordinary power enclosed in such a tiny body.

A forest of sharpen shadows rose up from Lovino's back, and then they amplified in an animal-like body, curved like he was about to attack. Obscure jaws lengthened from the boy's mouth, and a pair of red eyes opened over his closed eyelids. The entire body of the creature pulsated and, with a leap of the monstrous paws, an enormous wolf leaped from the minute back of the youth.

Lovino reached out his hand, stroking his gregarious for the first time. At the mansion they prohibited him to evoke the beast snarling in his head: it was something sacrilegious and it must be suppressed. But his inner animal keep growling, so sometimes Lovino let a paw of the beast or its shaggy tail lift up from his skin. Or he talked with it, while his brother was sleeping and during one of those nightly chats he had named that unfortunate creature Roma. He had never let it free because he wasn't sure he could keep a firm control on his beast, and he did not want to see the whole mansion in panic; nevertheless, the Airship was the perfect scenario for his animal to take a walk.

Roma was unexpectedly docile under his touch: Lovino felt the crest of shadows adapt itself to the shape of his hand, as if the animal wanted to be stroked. He was wondering what kind of insults his father would spit at him, if he saw his frightening wolf, composed by darkness and flames.

Lovino bent over the wolf to whisper in his ear:

«You know what to do, Roma.»

The beast flexed his paws and attacked with a hellish howl.

The crew watched the wolf, leaping and running towards his enemies and attacking them with his jaws wide open. He hadn't touched the wood of the Airship when his body faded into a net of smoky rivulets: first the paws, then the muscular chest and the robust neck, until only its ruby eyes burned in the air. In that moment, the panic began: the vile mist drove the crew crazy simply touching them. The seamen fled across the deck without pattern: some threw themselves over the railing, scared to death by infernal hallucinations; somebody, searching for an escape from the mental sorcery, stained with their own blood and cerebral liquids the bulkhead until they collapsed with their head smashed. The left part slaughtered their own comrades, shouting, incoherent, and ended killing themselves with their own blade.

The company of Antonio stared in astonishment at the violent suicide of their foes, and a sepulchral silence greeted the rival Airship as its waft touched the _Reina de la Oscuridad_'s one. The enemy's deck was a graveyard of abandoned weapons and corpses, drowning in blood and sill seeing the terrifying visions which had killed them.

No one uttered a word as the hazy tentacles wrapped the small figure of Lovino, who absorbed them until they disappear, hiding in his flesh. And no one would ever forget the fierceness of the scarlet pupils looking daggers at them before they sank into the closed eyelids of the boy.

The youth slowly opened his eyes, and the revelation of the devastation on the rival deck stabbed his pupils. Knowing the extent of his power wasn't enough to balance the consequence: an electric shock pulverized his kneels and he fell to the ground, pressing both of his hands to his mouth in the futile effort to stop the vomit.

A strong hand gripped his shaking shoulder and a cabin boy putted a basin under his chin. The contents of Lovino's stomach dumped themselves brutally in the washbowl, and the fingers on his shoulder the unique reassuring contact in that critical moment.

«You did not expect that killing someone was so shocking, did you?» Antonio's voice murmured gently next to his ear.

«The Carriedo's too…» muttered Lovino, hardly breathing in the spasms. «Are capable of something like this?»

The hand left his shoulder, and the answer of the captain's was not satisfying.

«No. We can do something different.»

The man's coat slapped his thigh as Antonio got up.

«Any more doubts about the usefulness of this little fellow?»

No one protested that day.

«They'll love you, as soon as they get used to your powers,» murmured, bent again on the drained boy.

Lovino swallowed hard and floundered:

«Every soul has light and shadow within, but twin brother has only an half of a soul. That's why my brother, as the Axis, has the powers of Harmony while I have the Chaos' ones.»

The captain stroked his hair with the rough kindness of a man forged by the indomitable ocean.

«The doctor will give you an antiemetic before you throw up even your soul. Now go,» he suggested.

Antonio commanded two seamen to support Lovino to the doctor's door, and ordered other seven to ransack the rival Airship. Then he gazed at the spectacle of the hobbling boy, almost fainted against his human crutches, and he was attracted by the bandage on his neck. That gauze was the symbol of the little boy's freedom: no more emblems to leash him to his family.

That youth was a weed grown up between lilies: he knew their lifestyle, he could also be confused for one of them, but he was stronger and tougher than they would ever be.

He was wondering if the cruel lifestyle of a pirate will ever make a real man out of that bunch of stubborn bones. The evolution of that runt on his Airship would be a very interesting show for the next years. If he grew up well, it would be nice to put his own mark on the naked place on that slim neck.

«_Estaremo a vedere,_» he said to the empty space.

A good captain knew when something was worth waiting for.

.

* * *

.

«You cannot sleep?»

The unique color of the room was the ginger hair of the future Axis, barely visible in the night thanks to the shy light of the moon. Everything else suffocated in the despotic white.

Feliciano sat on the bed, collecting the blanket on his lap.

«It takes seven years for the old Axis to pass his powers to the next one,» he putted his chin on the cloud of cover and considered: «The task I hold now are an infinitesimal part I'll have to absolve in the future.»

«That scares you?» Ludwig demanded.

«I will be chained to this Palace,» he descended in the ruffled blanket, as if trying to hide his pain in that soft mattress. «I will not be able to leave this place anymore.»

In the next seven years he wouldn't be able to leave that quartz walls even once either, but Ludwig preferred not to think about that fact. The Palace was supervised by Sir Vargas' guards night and day, and few of people could cross the entrance door freely. And he and that little boy were not part of that elite.

«How was the place you were born, Ludwig?»

The Guardian looked at him, puzzled.

«What's the reason for this question?» he asked as an answer.

Feliciano elegantly flopped down, and the nebulous sleeves of his tunic fluttered around as he gently fell on the mattress.

«I've seen the inside of the Villa, and sometimes its little forest, and this room. I would like to know what is the shape of the rest of the world.»

A few seconds of silence spread between them as the Guardian composed his reply.

«I was born on a far away planet,» he started the narration.

Feliciano closed his eyes, and the land described by Ludwig gradually took shape under the curtains of his eyelids: he saw a hard and iced soul snaked under his bare feet, and the ghost of the high mountains fading in the background mist. He heard the call of the bird of prey from the summit, and feel the winter chill freezing his skin. The sky was drenched with a silver color, reflected in the gloomy waters of the great lake in the center of the desolated land, and the wind raged against the solid wooden walls of a mountain hut, built near the lake.

«I like the place you were born. It seems beautiful.»

«Maybe you'll visit it, someday,» Ludwig encouraged him.

The youth inclined his face, covering it with the copped bangs.

«Of course. Now that you've told me, I can see it in my dreams,» he whispered.

Half an hour of immobility passed before the little boy fell asleep.

Ludwig had always thought that the Axis' dreams were the same ad the Palace: white and lifeless. Now he wondered what images inhabited his sleep, whose voices rang in his ears in the night.

The boy's eyelashes trembled, and a tear appeared between them. Ludwig came close when a second was born, and he was delicate enough to dry it without awakening the Axis. Feliciano seemed relived by his touch, and the next tear, little and weak compared to the others, was the last one.

Ludwig sat on the edge of the giant bed to monitor him: he would be faster that way, if the Axis starts crying again.

There was only one window in the room, a small skylight in the ceiling, and Ludwig looked through it into the space. All that mess of darkness, worlds and stars would be supported by the tiny back of that boy, once the seven years have passed.

_You really trust a harmony based on the total loneliness and unhappiness of a poor thing?_

Once again, his brother was right.

.

.

.

Beta Reading: Amethyst Asheryn


	3. 3 - The Auspice

**Chapter Three: the Auspice**

Precedent Axis' bones cracked like dead branches as he knelt on the soft cushions, which had prepared to comfort his old, tired body. His indefatigable Guardian helped him in that painful operation.

Just one year, and then Feliciano would become the official Axis. It was the perfect timing for the Auspice: the thousand-year-old tradition had it that the old Axis should meet the new one to prophesy about his future regency. That was the millenary costume, but still the old Axis felt a little uncomfortable. No one has ever vaticinated about twin brothers, and he honestly didn't know where that situation could bring all of them.

His stream of consciousness was interrupted by the opening of the majestic entrance door.

The future of the Confederation, well dressed in white, smiled at him from the golden threshold.

The mighty Guardian towered over him, twenty centimeter at least, solemn in his dark uniform. His dexterity and his strength were more than enough to do his duty: he didn't need great and shiny armor. Thanks to the gory training he had taken in the past, he was more powerful from any warrior in the Confederation. No one, except the ice-eyed youth, could lift his heavy sword up, nor could use the magic of the three Mystic Gems set in the hilt.

He moved his aged eyes to his successor. His slight body was draped in the white tunic like the sun would be crowned by a snowy cloud, and the vague veil hang on his pearly hat barely caressed his gentle smile.

The old man invited the new Axis to kneel before him with a gesture of his decrepit hand, and Feliciano took his place gracefully, followed by his Guardian. The future Axis did not cross the eyes of the man even once: he wasn't allowed to look into the ancient Axis' face until he became the Axis himself.

The past and the future of the Confederation intertwined their fingers and hummed the initial prayers.

The Guardians stayed still and silent, while Feliciano removed his veil in order to touch the forehead of the ancient Axis with his own, exactly where the Third Eye of the foresight was supposed to be.

The old Axis would never be able to forget what happened that day.

When the Third Eye opened, his invisible pupil embraced the placid horizon of a universe where planets peacefully revolved around the Quartz Palace. That vision was crystal clear: the praised powers of his successor will guarantee an impeccable armory in the future such has never been.

The scenery of the vision abruptly changed: a pair of burning eyes tore fiercely the dark curtain of the space, as red as the lava from Efesto's Fortress. Then the grotesque jaws of a wolf appeared, showing themselves in a diabolic grin. The beast howled, and all the planets shuddered.

The wrists of the old Axis turned in water when those hellish jaws loosed a second yowl causing all the worlds to stop. Called by his infernal growl, three more beasts rose up from the shadows of the space: a crow squawked sepulchral, a falcon took off in flight, and an eagle roosted on the somber muzzle of the wolf.

As soon as the three creatures emerged, all the planets went crazy: Chugoku lost his brightest star, and an oriental sword stabbed the heart of the planet, covering him with dense and brilliant blood; Britain gave birth to a mesh of thunder which crumbled a hundred planets into a tin dust; the six Fortresses melted like a piece of wax tossed in the fire, and their pasty tears faded in the emptiness of the Galaxy.

A huge wave, scarlet as the wolf's eyes, heaped the Confederetion with his bloody tears, shattering the Quartz Palace and drowning the entire Galaxy in its ruby spiral.

The old Axis opened his eyes wide, brusquely closing the Third one.

The copper iris of the boy staring at him, at a very short distance from the old man's shaken face.

«Peace and prosperity will bless your reign,» the ancient Axis predicted. «I've never had such a heavenly vision: you'll grant the Confederation idyllic serenity.»

Feliciano placed the veil again on his face, mumbled the final hymn and stood up elegantly, bowed to his predecessor according to the Vatican ritual. The Guardian knelt in front of the old Axis, then he moved permitting Feliciano to left the room first.

The old Axis waited until the echo of their steps vanished on the pearly tiles of the isle, before he issued an order to his Guardian.

«Bring my message to the head of the Vargas household as soon as possible.»

The Guardian didn't ask the reason for the enigmatic communication: he just listened and memorized.

The black wolf had unchained the Chaos in the vision, so, if they could eliminate that vicious beast, nothing bad would ever happen. They should find the evil twin, who had tricked even Death with his malefic powers, and kill him for good: that was the only way to maintain the Confederation's safety.

The superstition about twin brother was correct. They really were an awful omen.

.

* * *

.

«Faster!»

The chief's capillaries were almost blown out by the force of his furious shout.

«The Airship cannot go any faster, sir! Rockets are at their limit too!» yelled from the engine room.

The sound of a lifeboat landing on the deck turned their hearts into painful blocks of ice in their chests. They turned, deathly slow, in the direction of the cylindrical boat, floating candid with a blue garland of flames around his rockets. It was loaded with only two men, but the sight of them was enough to make every single seaman on that Airship beg the Axis' pity.

The red coat of the captain of the _Reina de la Oscuridad_ resembled a bloody waterfall, and the graveyard of the medals stripped from other defeated leaders shining on that vermilion river. The heavy ax, taller than its own possessor, waited against the man's shoulder to plunge itself in their enemies' bodies.

At his side, shorter but no less fearsome, a youth was giving them a surly look, his foot leaning against on the border of the boat.

The chief of the Airship swallowed a bitter taste of panic. He knew the tales about that ghastly boy, who had happeared in the crew of the _Reina de la Oscuridad_ like sorcery. It was said that he could lead an entire troop to commit suicide with his evil beast, and that he fed it only flesh and human blood to the gloomy wolf.

The sacrifices of his victims drenched is already red color coat, smaller and less decorated than the captain's one.

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo was known as the Devil's Right Hand, and the youth soon earned the title of Devil's Left Hand.

The emerald eyes blazed in the shadow of the cocked hat, and the captain modulated his voice in a creepy greeting.

«Excuse us for intruding. We need some information. If you are so kind as to answer us, you will be able to see the sunrise.»

The chief tried to keep his legs firm as he nodded.

«You are part of the Britannic navy, aren't you?»

The man nodded again, paralyzed. The giant Lion on the sail was more than proof enough.

«You have contacts with the Britannic Harbormaster, right?» Antonio insisted.

«Of course,» stammered the leader.

«You're a splendid talker, sir. Please, don't stumble now,» the captain praised him before a shade of dark gravity saturated his face. «Where is the last Hellsing?»

The chief almost crumbled under the weight of that question, like a ceramic vase hit by a cannonball. He retreated a little, trembling. He remembered with terrible clarity how it had been when the Hellsig was free to wander around the Confederation, accompanied by his atrocious cohort. And the memories of that time terrified him far more than the couple of pirates.

«I will not say a word about this.»

Captain's fingers drummed on the handle of the ax.

«I'm sure you're a reasonable man. And I'm sure you're aware that a human life is more valuable than a mere piece of information.»

«Not _this_ information. If the Hellsing wakes up, his monstrous allies will plague the Confederation again, and thousands of people will die…»

The ax stopped a millimeter from his throat, but the fierce glare of the captain was sharper than that blade: the emerald iris burned in such a merciless rage it could pulverize his soul with a single glance.

«Are you saying that the Hellsing is a killer?» he hissed.

«How many people had died, because of him?» exhaled the chief, his throat touching the blade of the ax with every single word - a tiny, red smile become visible on his neck. «The Vatican Family excommunicate him as a heretic!»

«The Vatican Family is used to twisting the truth at its will,» intervened the youth, jumping out the boat. «According to them, I died six years ago.»

«Lovino,» Antonio asked, heedless of the terror in the bloodshot eyes of the chief. «Can you extract something good from his head?»

The boy tilted his head slightly, copper hair tickling the red shoulder of his coat.

«I can try, at least,» he conceded. «Don't let them to get any closer.»

The captain's ax left his throat, immediately replaced by Lovino's hands, wrapping strongly around his neck. The boy's leg hit him behind the knee and he fell. The chief found himself pressed on the deck by the youth astride on him, his throat constricted by boy's fingers and the young pirate's pitched voice pouring in his ears.

«You have to sleep a little bit, or I will not be able to work properly.»

Antonio analyzed the scene, satisfied with the boy's progresses. He wasn't a fragile child anymore: he adapted to the smell of blood and to the racket of the battle, and even a suffocating victim didn't change his frown. The boy's muscles tensed, fighting against the last and fiercest struggle of the chief, before he passed out. The youth's hand, claw shaped, descended on the man's face: the index and the annular leaned against the eyes, the middle finger reached the forehead, and the thumb and the pinkie gripped the cheeks, as the boy closed his eyelids to concentrate.

Antonio was distracted from his examination by a whistle: a member of the crew tried to shoot him with the silencer on. He saw the dismay spreading on the man's face like a blot of petrol in the ocean: the bullet stopped near the captain's temple, without grazing the tanned skin, as it was floating in the water.

«Nice try,» Antonio complimented. He laid the long ax on his shoulder, aiming at the sky with the sawn-off shotgun and shot.

The bullet flew straight to the stars above them, everyone could see that. As they could see it abruptly nosedived to the deck, avoiding every one of them except for the unfortunate who dared to shoot the captain. A bloody spurt drenched his comrades' shirts and he fell with a dull thud.

«These are… Evil's Right Hand powers?» stuttered a seaman, his faces dawbed with blood.

Antonio put his gun back with an evil smirk. The huge ax was making his shoulder stiff, thus he shook it lightly as he declared, «Stopping bullets and redirecting their way… is just a small piece of what Carriedo are capable of.»

His boast was interrupted by Lovino's painful whimpers, and he focused on the boy.

The tiny body of the youth was swathed in a tangle of green lightning arising from the chief's head and spreading a revolting stink of burnt flesh. Lovino had blocked his wrist with the other hand, in order to keep his grip firm until the end, in spite of the pain. The war between the boy and the spell defending the chief's memory lasted a few seconds, before the youth was throw away from the man's body.

Despite of the weighty weapons, Antonio quickly caught him, saving the boy from a nasty fall.

«The Wizard of the West is really powerful,» Lovino cursed, shaking his burnt hand. «His protective spells are hard to elude.»

«Did you find anything worth of interest?» asked Antonio.

Lovino kicked up his heels, offended by the resigned tone of the captain.

«I found something! The Wizard of the West is powerfull, not infallible!» he blurted.

Antonio directed his glance on the fainted man and his traumatized crew.

«We will be going now.»

«There's still one thing I have to do,» Lovino reminded him.

Antonio nodded, and grabbed his ax with both hands.

The crew anxiously watched as the blade gradually increasing in size, until it was as big as the pirates' lifeboat. A rotation of wrists and arms and the giant ax tore off the roof of the crew's cabins in one shot.

«We have to erase your memories,» Lovino jointed his hands, and a dark mist sneaked out from his shoulder, lightened by a pair of bloody eyes.

«We cannot let you free to spread around information about us,» Antonio confirmed.

«Unfortunately for you, the only way I know to keep you silent…» the red eyes flickered with the cruelty of a beast, and even the bravest of the crew ruined on their knees. «… is to fill your head with Chaos. I'm afraid your journey in sanity is over.»

The last image they saw of the normal world were two ruby pupils towering above them. Then their minds were ripped to shreds, and the universe was tear into thousands of pieces which will never fix together again.

The lifeboat hastily parted from that Airship, where the insanity reigned.

.

* * *

.

«So Lovino is still alive.»

The old Guardian's head lowered, nodding.

«This is not the only advise about your children. The Axis commanded me to deliver two messages.»

Sir Vargas suspiciously curved an irritated eyebrow, and the Guardian continued, «The white is the color of the Axis, for it reflects every color without absorbing a single one. So is the Axis: he has to reflect the universe without being touched by it. But white is also very easy to stain, so the Axis must be locked away from the wickedness of the Galaxy. You have to be very careful about the one you choose for this responsibility.»

«Why?» sir Vargas almost growled.

«For his white seems eager to be stained,» the Guardian articulated sternly. «And the Confederation cannot rely on an unclean hinge.»

As soon as he had said it, the Guardian bowed to him and disappeared along the corridor, leaving si Vargas alone with his meditations.

He would send his troops without hesitation, with just one order: find Lovino and kill him for good.

He had no concern about Feliciano: he was totally submissive, and he had probably forgotten that he had a brother once.

The only problem was Lovino, as always.

He dipped the nib in the ink bottle and started to write an arrest warrant.

He will never allow that unwanted twin to disintegrate their Universe.

.

* * *

.

«Why are you so silent?»

Feliciano hadn't breathe a word since they had left the chamber of the Auspice: he removed his hat and the veil, he putted them on the border of the bed and he sat on the armchair, rigorously milky.

«Oh… you noticed my silence?»

Feliciano pasted a tired smile on his face, and relaxed himself in the softness of the armchair. His exhausted face held the pallor of a ghost.

«He wasn't honest with me,» he revealed.

«How can you say that?» demanded grave Ludwig.

Feliciano covered his eyes, in an attempt to hide his sin under his fingers.

«Because my powers are stronger than his "The best Axis ever", remember? That's how they praise me,» the smile son of the bitterness curved his lips. «Apparently, my powers are immense like they say. I myself didn't notice till… till today. I saw what he saw.»

«And what did you see?»

Feliciano pulled his legs back on the armchair, in a twisted position. When his head sank behind the knees, the whiteness of his clothes mingled with the snowy color of the armchair.

«If Lovino survive, the Confederation will be overturned. The Universe itself could die.»

A freezing chill ran through his spine, and Feliciano's shoulders started. Ludwig kneeled in front of the armchair, concerned about the physical condition of the youth.

«An Axis should have close to his heart only the future of the Confederation. I know that,» from his tear-filled throat came out a sound like a meow. «So I'm supposed to let them kill my brother and to accept my lonely future…» his head went under the knees, and only two copped locks emerged on the colorless clothes. «But I don't want it.»

Feliciano suddenly raised his head: the red of his burning checks, the watery color of his tears and the red-hot shade of his eyes were almost aggressive in comparison with the omnipresent white.

«My power may be greater than the other Axis' one, but my spirit is not so strong! They cannot ask me to throw my feelings out of this Palace and turn into a heartless doll! They cannot ask me to kill my brother!»

«Maybe you misunderstood the vision…»

«There's no misunderstanding. I saw Roma!»

A second of total immobility passed before Feliciano covered his cheeky mouth.

«I'm sorry, I yelled…» he moved his begging eyes up to the Guardian's face and his voice tottered. «But my brother is more important than the whole Confederation, to me. Protecting a Universe without him… it doesn't have any sense to me… Ludwig, if you had to choose between your brother and the Confederation, which one will you choose?»

For a moment, the Guardian's shoulders twitched. Then he relaxed them in the resting position as he answered, «I was forced to choose, when I was younger. And that time I could do nothing, because I was too weak.»

Feliciano laid against the chubby arm of the armchair, hushed. Ludwig gazed upon him, declaring, «But now I am strong, and so you are. If we combine our strengths we could see our loved ones again avoiding the destruction of the Confederation.»

The youth's eyelashes, adorned with tears, trembled.

«Are you sure?» Feliciano barely dared to ask.

«Not completely sure. But we can try, at least.»

Feliciano dried his eyes with his ample sleeve, happily nodding.

«I want you to do two things for me,» the Axis announced. «The first is: don't be so formal with me, when it's just the two of us. It seems like you want to keep me away from you, and I don't like it.»

«It's necessary to show you respect.»

«I feel it when you risk your life protecting me. You don't need to be so rigid.»

«As you… like,» Ludwig faltered, breaking the wall of rituality.

Feliciano's smile became more sincere, but it fell to pieces articulating the second request:

«Would you… hug me?»

The boy turned to the arm of the armchair, and he justified, embarrassed, «When I was with my brother… I used to hug him all the time.» He grabbed some of his hair, the nostalgia causing him to close his eyes. «It's been six years since the last time someone hugged me… or touched me. And it's so… sad… like no one really cares if I'm really alive or not, as long as I accomplish my duty…»

He heard the rustling uniform when his Guardian's arms enveloped his head.

«You're not alone,» Ludwig whispered, holding him in his arms.

Feliciano bit his lips and shut his eyes, embracing him back. He thought that Ludwig was gelid as his natal land was, but he can feel the Guardian's heart pounding in the chest against his check, and the heat of his body seeping through the uniform and encircled him together with his arms.

He hug those massive shoulders tightly, hiding his face in the youth thorax.

The only heat he remembered was the warmth of the fireplace during winter nights.

Rediscovering the heat of a human being made Feliciano so happy that he, for the first time in six years, felt like a human again.

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* * *

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Lovino examined the navigator's sketch with a scowl.

«Something similar,» he asserted, placing the drawing on the table so everyone could see it.

«Are you absolutely sure this is what you see in the chief's memory?» Antonio inquired again.

Lovino tapped his nail on the sketched landscape.

«I'm deadly sure. Here was the Hellsing, chained up,» he explained, pointing at a small bridge covered with ice. «And he was dragged here,» concluded, pointing a clump of towers resembling a forest of stalactites.

A worried hubbub rose from the crew. Antonio untied his curly hair and tied them again on his nape before predict, «This is Prison Caina.» There were no need to add anything more.

Prison Caina was one of the Six Fortresses, and it was protected by some of the best warriors in the entire Confederation: no one has ever lived long enough to narrate his encounter with the Golem of Ice. Furthermore, the weather of the Golem's world inhabited by the Golem was a deterrent for swashbucklers: no one could survive the polar temperature o the asperity of the ground. In the whole planet the only one construction was the Fortress, and the only one living beings were the Golem.

«A blitz attack won't work,» a buccaneer predicted loudly. «In that damned land there are no mountains to hide behind. Just a damned sheet of ice.»

«Lovino, you can't turn us invisible?» Antonio tried, but the youth shook his head.

«He could drive the prisoners crazy. It would distract the Golem for a while,» a seaman proposed. Antonio dissented, «The prisoners in Caina are all asleep and trapped in ice. They could not make a mess even if they want to.»

No one breathe a word, noticing the spasmodic tenseness in captain's fists. Prison Caina was famous not only for its impervious location, but also for the pain inflicted to the criminals. The detainees were immersed in a block of ice and in a deep sleep, and the coils of cold and slumber they revived their worst nightmares till the end of time. Antonio's blood roared in his brain as he imagined Gilbert immobile in a frozen coffin, tormented by horrible visions.

«There's a person who can come near the Fortresses without being stopped,» hazarded a ship's boy with a bandage on his eye. «The Custodian of the Gates.»

«Sure. You want to be the first head he smashes with his bludgeon?» another seaman scolded him. «We are all enemies, to him.»

«This is the only way to free the Hellsing! Once we entered the Prison we can manage somehow, with the power of the captain and his vice, but we have to arrive there alive!» the first one protested ardently.

«And how do you intend to…»

«Is it really the only way?»

Lovino's question whipped through the conversation. Everyone turned their eyes to the slender figure of the boy, who was staring at Antonio, waiting for an answer.

«The Wizard of the West would do something, but we have a… complicated history. We can count on him only to rescue the Marauder. _Maybe,_» Antonio specified. «Unfortunately, the Custodian is our only option.»

«So be it. If you're too scared, don't worry: I'll go alone.»

Lovino left the table and quickly headed to his cabin, before anyone could contest his decision.

He removed his amaranth jacket and he put it on the coat hanger. A sparkle reflected off his new medal: he collected the emblem of the chief of the Britannic Airship and he pinned it on his chest, with the medals of the other captains he'd defeated. But they weren't enough to compete with Antonio.

He started to undo the bottoms of his shirt, and he was halfway to finishing it when the door of his cabin was opened.

«You should let the others finish talking…» A pillow threw with red-hot touchiness hit the captain's face, hushing him.

«You should knock, damn you!» Lovino yelled, rapidly fastening his shirt.

«You can't blame them if they are afraid of the Custodian of the Gates. You haven't seen what he is capable of, but they have,» Antonio continued, undismayed, trespassing the cushion on the pavement.

«That's why I said I'll go alone. So no one will be harmed,» replied harsh Lovino.

He turned abruptly when Antonio grabbed his wrist so hard it almost hurt.

«This,» articulated Antonio, lifting Lovino's bandaged hand up. «Second degree burns, and you didn't even face the Wizard of the West. You're really so confident you can survive the fight with the Custodian of the Gates?»

«I'll manage, somehow,» Lovino replied, trying to free his wrist. Antonio firmed his grasp and his reprimand, «This sentiment is typical of the fool. And the fools always die in very stupid ways. You want to be killed and leave your brother alone in the Crystal?»

Lovino's eyes widened, horrified by the gloomy prediction. Antonio's raged calmed down a bit, seeing the stubbornness on the boy's face withdrawing, replaced by anxiety. His grip on the youth wrist gentled as he suggested, authoritative, «If you want to see your brother again, take care of your life.»

He took advantage of Lovino's momentary obedience to add, «We lower a life boat of six men to reach the Moving Fortress of the Custodian. We'll try to negotiate, not to fight. Understood?»

«What if he attacks us?»

«Then we retreat. And we'll search for another way to free the Hellsing.»

Lovino drove his irises, wary as usual, on the captain's face and questioned, «If we free the Hellsing and the Marauder, we can break the wall of the Quartz Palace… is that really true?»

«They are the only ones who will follow us in this crazy adventure. Not in mention, the most powerful,» Antonio confirmed.

Lovino waited a little bit before he said, «Why do you want the destruction of the Quartz Palace so badly? I want it for my brother, but you…»

«I have seen what's hidden behind the surface of the Vatican justice. And I think that shouldn't be the hinge of the Confederation.»

He was bewildered by the captain's sudden reply. Antonio stunned him even more with a smile totally inappropriate for that type of conversation.

«I'll tell you, someday,» he promised.

«There's no need for that. Just help me to rescue my brother. This will be more than enough,» pawed Lovino, trying again to free his wrist.

The captain's didn't allow him to escape. On the contrary he pulled the bandaged hand close to his face. Antonio's eyes ran slowly across his palm, staring intently as if trying to see an invisible path on it. Then they went down to touch the bandages.

Lovino squirmed like a barely caught pike, and he protested vigorously when the captain's other hand of the pressed on his back. Lovino's exclamations weakened against the captain's crimson coat, as Antonio's insinuations ran through his hair.

«You fight admirably to see your brother again. But you should figure out that he is not the only person you'll ever meet in your life. And if you persist to look for him only, you'll lose a lot of others along the way.»

Antonio suddenly released him, dodging a kick headed for his shin.

«We will turn for the Moving Fortress any moment now. If you fell like joining us, you know how to do,» then the captain left the room.

Lovino threw the jacket around his shoulders, an embarrassed wrath coloring his face with a purple tone. It was so wrong to care about his twin brother? He was supposed to look around, searching for a not-so-wanted-opportunity?

«And what exactly is this phantasmagoric occasion? _You_?» shrieked Lovino, fixing vehemently a sleeve. «Don't make me laugh, bastard!»

And he closed the captain's nonsense behind the door, heading for the reunion room.

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They have a long way to go… and me as well XD

Thank you for reading *cheers*

See you in the next chapter (Ivan is coming *whistle*)

Red


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